Awesome Australian Open

Madison Keys on her way to a win!

So this blog post is about a month late, but better late than never I guess. We went to the Australian Open again this year. One day we got a grounds pass and cheered on American Madison Keys (maybe we're distantly related?). We also saw Marcos Baghdatis, a guy from Cyprus who was entertaining because the crowd was full of people singing and cheering in Greek. I can't remember who else we saw, but the weather was warm and the tennis was good!





The next day we bought some day tickets to the Hisense Arena so we could see some higher ranked players. I enjoyed watching Serena Williams again, with nearly front row seats. I just wish I had brought my good camera, because security wasn't checking lens sizes this year, and I could have gotten some awesome shots! Anyway, at one point in the match, Serena twisted her ankle or did something to her foot and went down. It was kind of a scary moment. Trainers and such rushed over to her, and the match was delayed for a bit. But after getting it wrapped up, she was good to go, and she still easily won.

Australian life is consumed with the tennis for the last couple of weeks in January. If you're not at the matches, you're watching them at whatever restaurant or bar you're at, or it's on your television at home.

"Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi"

I really enjoy the Australian Open, though I had never watched tennis before moving here. There were several nights where we stayed up late to see who would win. It also kept us entertained in Byron Bay when there was nothing else to do in the crazy rain. It's so cool that this international event takes place in the city where I live and that I can just decide to go check it out one morning, hop on a tram, and be witnessing top-ranked players play tennis just thirty minutes later!

The Australian Open

Can you tell that it is summer here? So hot!

Woohoo-my computer is FINALLY fixed! I'm not even going to go into the things I had to do to get it to work; I'm just happy it does. Anyway, back to the blogging. For two weeks in January, the Australian Open was the focus of Melbourne and much of the world. Zack's dad and stepmom flew into town and enjoyed several days of tennis. I joined them on Tuesday of the first week with a grounds pass, which allows you to see several matches on various courts throughout the day.

Dokic (Australian) and her Russian opponent wore the same outfit! The Aussie won. 

I'm not sure I've ever actually watched a full match of tennis. I pretty much knew the rules and how the game worked, but I've never sat down and really paid attention. I'll admit; I got kind of hooked! There were many late nights over the next week and a half as I stayed up to watch the ends of matches on television.

Players would stop and sign these giant tennis balls after their matches.

I've never been to a tennis tournament, but the Australian Open seemed extremely well organized and executed. The ball kids were especially impressive; you could tell they had been carefully trained. The crowds were fun, shouting "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi" and leading slow motion and extra-fast waves. But when the tennis players played, people were so quiet! 

On Tuesday evening, Zack joined us after work at the Rod Laver Arena to watch the evening matches between Aussie favorite Lleyton Hewitt and a German guy and then Serena Williams versus an Austrian. Hewitt's match lasted nearly four hours; we were exhausted just watching it! But he won in the end.

Some of these serves are around 200 km/hour (123 miles/hour)!

Lleyton Hewitt wins his match after nearly four hours!

It was a warm summer night, and after spending all day sweating in the sun, I was tired by midnight. But I was excited to stay and see Serena Williams. She is a beast! Seriously, she is built like a man-so muscular and strong. She's actually won the Australian Open a few times (not this year). But she easily beat her opponent in the first set on the night we were there, so we headed home to get to bed at nearly 2 am!

Overall, the Australian Open was pretty cool, and it was a neat to be a part of the action. I'm glad Melbourne hosts such a major event and that tickets weren't too difficult to get. I've definitely learned to understand and appreciate tennis much more.